Australian Olympian set to inspire kids

Minjee Lee impresses the kids at the 2017 ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open.

Minjee Lee has proudly put her name to MyGolf (www.mygolf.org.au), Australia’s national junior participation program, which is jointly run by Golf Australia and the PGA of Australia.

Australia’s top-ranked female golfer joins men’s world No.3 Jason Day as a joint ambassador of the booming program that’s designed to boost the growth of junior golf around the nation.

Lee, 20, herself a recent graduate of the Golf Australia high performance pathway, is thrilled to be involved with MyGolf.

“It is a great privilege to support MyGolf as an introductory pathway to golf,” she said.

“Golf is such a great sport to be involved with for both girls and boys, not only from a playing perspective, but also from a social viewpoint.

“And MyGolf is a brilliant way to introduce the next generation of Australians to golf.”

Golf Australia chief executive Stephen Pitt said Lee’s involvement was a fantastic show of support for MyGolf.

“Minjee has been involved with Golf Australia’s high performance programs for some time and has quickly developed into Australia’s top female professional golfer. Her willingness to give back to the game is testament to the person she is – and it’s brilliant to see her so passionate about getting young children, particularly young girls, into golf,” Pitt said.

PGA of Australia Chief Executive Gavin Kirkman was equally delighted.

“Minjee is one of Australia’s leading tour professionals and, along with our top-ranked men’s player, Jason Day, we are thrilled that we have the nation’s two leading professional golfers supporting our most important development initiative, MyGolf,” Kirkman said.

Lee began her competitive career in Perth alongside coach, PGA Professional, Ritchie Smith at just 12 years old and quickly progressed to make her first Australian team by the age of 14.

Lee progressed through the ranks and became world No.1 amateur in 2014, the same year she joined teammates Su Oh and Shelly Shin atop the podium as Australia won the Espirito Santo Trophy at the Women’s World Amateur Teams Championship.

Earlier that year, Lee had shown her game was also ready to tackle the professionals when she waltzed to the Oates Vic Open title.

Having taken the leap to the LPGA Tour, Lee continued her rapid rise and won a tournament in her rookie season in 2015 before winning twice more last year to surge into the top 20 in the world rankings.

Lee made history last year when she qualified to represent Australia in the 2016 Rio Games as golf returned to the Olympic family; she was in the hunt to win bronze throughout the final round before finishing two shots adrift in a tie for seventh.

“It’s been an amazing ride already,” said Lee, who’s excited to give back to support the next generation.

“Who knows? Maybe my next Australian colleague on the LPGA Tour is a MyGolfer today.”